Another 74 air crash victims returning to NL

By Maxime Zech on July 25, 2014 - 11:22
Hercules
Victims being loaded onto Dutch military plane Hercules for transport to Eindhoven. Source: Twitter/Simon Ostrovsky/@SimonOstrovsky

Military planes will transport the bodies of 74 more victims of the MH17 plane crash from Ukraine to The Netherlands today. The planes are expected at airport Eindhoven at around 4 p.m. 

The fatalities will receive the same ceremonial treatment today as previous days. This includes a minute of silence after the landing, and the transfer of the coffins from the plane to individual hearses one by one.

The hearses will take the bodies from the airport to the military barracks Korporaal van Oudheusden in Hilversum so that they can be identified.

The ceremony in Eindhoven is open for family to witness if they choose to do so. Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and State Secretary of Justice Fred Teeven will be present in Eindhoven.

There is also a ceremony in Ukraine, at the airport in Kharvik where the planes will take off. Minister Frans Timmermans of Foreign Affairs will be there with his Australian colleague Julie Bishop, seeing the Dutch plane Hercules take off. 

Tomorrow, more victims' bodies will come from Kharkiv with caskets. It is unclear how many caskets will land in Eindhoven, or how many planes will be used, according to a spokesperson for the forensic team in Kharkiv on Thursday.

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